Thamyres Sabrina
Life Sciences
Thamyres Sabrina Gonçalves is descended from the Xacriabá indigenous people, originally from the north of Minas Gerais, and is also the granddaughter of the black warrior João Boagente. Ancestry is a constant presence in your life. Sofia’s mother, she credits indigenous wisdom with her perception of every child as the responsibility of every adult, as is customary among indigenous peoples.
Gonçalves began her journey as a geographer at the State University of Montes Claros, moving on to a master’s degree in conservation biology and forest science at the Federal University of Vales do Jequitinhonha and Mucuri, where she also obtained a doctorate in plant production. Her work transcends the academic boundaries of phytogeography, pedology and ecology. Analyzing microcoal traces from forest islands in the peatlands of Serra do Espinhaço, the scientist reconstructs the image of forests of the past and their connections with the forest of the present and of human occupation in this territory since time immemorial.
In addition to research, she teaches, always defending anti-racist and collaborative science, focused on bringing more black and indigenous women to the forefront of scientific studies. Outside the academic perimeter, she finds her essence in reading and writing, playing chords on the guitar and playing handball. The geographer is also part of the Maria Cecília Black Women’s Collective.
Projects
Ever since the Portuguese invaded Brazil, vegetation has intrigued them. Since then, several naturalists, almost always white men, have set out to try to understand Brazilian phytogeography. It has always caught their attention when forests occur isolated in the middle of rural formations, as in the case of Capões de Mata, which appears in the drainage lines of the rivers that cut through the Cerrado in Brazil’s most charming tropical mountain range. I, a woman of indigenous and African descent, was also enchanted by naturalism and these forest islands, almost always associated with organic soils from ecosystems called peatlands. I have been researching these landscapes’ paleoenvironmental reconstructions for some years to understand their formation better. The forest is part of our history and leaves us with many traces of time. Among them are fragments of charcoal from trees that once lived there. This project hypothesizes that by analyzing microcoals extracted from the soil accumulated over thousands of years, we can uncover the forest’s past and, perhaps, a little more about human occupation in the Americas.
Amount invested
Grant Faperj 2023: R$ 690.000,00
